Before I went to Azerbaijan, I was like you: I didn’t know Heydar Aliyev.

But then, I had already gotten sick and tired of him by the second day.

Let me share this experience with you, so that you will be prepared. That’s important because – whether you want it or not – Heydar Aliyev will be your guide and constant companion in Azerbaijan.

When you fly to Baku, you arrive at Heydar Aliyev Airport. When you arrive by train, you travel on the Heydar Aliyev Express, get off at Heydar Aliyev Station and walk along the wide Heydar Aliyev Boulevard to Heydar Aliyev Square, past Heydar Aliyev Foundations, Heydar Aliyev Schools and Heydar Aliyev Institutes.

If you want to take a break from Heydar Aliyev and thus prefer to travel across Azerbaijan by car, you will still see a photo of the ex-president at every intersection, every turnoff and every roundabout.

“Your ad here”, such unused billboard space would advertise in the rest of the world, but in Azerbaijan nobody dares to commission advertisement that large because it would require pasting over the photo of Heydar Aliyev. An unthinkable sacrilege.

On 6 July I happened to be in Ganja. It was my birthday, but I didn’t know anyone in the city. So I made my way to the park to read a book, eat ice cream and to strike up conversations with strangers. This had worked well in the past.

But Azerbaijan is different.

The park is of course named after Heydar Aliyev. It isn’t fenced in, because who would dare to vandalize, urinate or camp in a park named after HA (for reasons of laziness readability, I shall henceforth abbreviate the name of the great leader)? Or maybe there simply wasn’t enough fence for a park which is larger than some independent states.

It’s not yet 8 a.m., but a few joggers and some old but fit walkers are already circling the (artificial) lake. Later, it will be too hot. Or maybe they come so early to escape the surveillance, because at 8 o’clock sharp the staff shows up: security guards, cleaning ladies and men, gardeners. They sweep the floor, water the green beds, twitch at the flowers.

The only thing that’s missing are visitors. Maybe it’s simply too far. First, you need to cross a 12-lane street. Don’t worry about the traffic, because all of Ganja doesn’t have enough cars to fill this street. But most school runs are shorter.

When you have crossed the widest street in the world after a march of ten minutes, you have reached the parking area. A car park like the one in front of the Olympic stadium. It was planned big enough that all cars in Azerbaijan could park here simultaneously. But it is empty. The public squares in the city were already overdimensioned, but this here is megalomania at a North Korean level.

Once you have walked through the triumphal arch (as big as in Paris and, for the avoidance of any doubt, adorned with the name of HA), which is the actual entrance, you have to traipse for another mile to reach the HA Museum. Just like people had to walk through a long hall in the royal palace before meeting the king.

All the people whom you see in the photos are staff. Constantly sweeping staff. When I sit down on a bench (you do get tired when having to walk one and a half hours from the car park to the museum), they come closer and sweep the area around me. When I get up and continue the long march, they sweep the place where I just sat with utmost intensity. From time to time, a man walks up to the cleaning ladies and instructs them to sweep more, sweep faster, sweep better, sweep more patriotically.

As everyone is giving orders to everyone else, it becomes obvious that even the non-uniformed passersby are employees. I almost feel as if the whole park is only being operated for me. But I don’t want to pass judgment prematurely; I am certain there will be more visitors at night.

But now in the morning, the amphitheater is as empty and oversized as anything bearing the name of HA.

Men are wading in a water fountain that has been switched off and frantically rubbing the floor and the water taps. A worker breaks out tiles from the walkway to clean them from below and puts them back. This is a mega-project for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. I want to wish them a proper storm, so that they really have something to clean up for once.

A cleaning lady fills a bucket with water from the fountain, pours it over the path and begins to clean what wasn’t dirty. A cleaner hoses down a column-like lamppost which is then wiped dry by another cleaner.

Walking past hundreds of cleaning maniacs, I finally reach the museum. In case one has forgotten to whom this park is dedicated since the sign at the entrance or the triumphal arch, a mere few hours ago, golden letters and a statue of HA remind you. To make sure, the statue is inscribed with HA’s name.

Finally, I will learn everything about the man who thrusts himself into every step of my journey. But first, I look back at the long-distance hiking path that I have already walked this morning. And I am only halfway through the park. One could still walk (and clean and sweep) for days.

The museum is three floors high, with a glass dome, much marble, much gold and white leather armchairs. Typical dictator kitsch. If you have ever visited the Gaddafis, the Husseins or the Trumps, you are familiar with it.

I am the only visitor, which startles the man behind the desk so much that he turns off his YouTube video, jumps up and henceforth follows my every step, always four to five meters to my side and always looking at his phone when I look at him. We are the only two people in the whole building (incomprehensible why there are no cleaners here), making his constant proximity and observation quite obtrusive.

And there wouldn’t even be anything of value to steal because the “museum” only has dozens of display boards about the life of HA with hundreds of photos of him. Protected by glass, there are a few books about and by him. Two-meter wide TV screens are ready to show biopics, but I couldn’t really run off with such a large TV on my own. Nor could I steal the white grand piano (a Blüthner).

Maybe the guard simply doesn’t like my camera and my notepad. Journalists and reporters are not particularly liked in Azerbaijan. When I walk towards the exit, the museum guy has come as close as one meter and almost pushes me out of the door. Apparently, he is keen on being alone with HA again.

Despite all the glorification of HA, two points were interesting about the exhibition: First, his past as a leading member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is not glossed over.

On the central boulevard, there are a few light, luxurious and massive apartment complexes, these are the houses which the ruler of Azerbaijan, HA, had built for his camarilla. He is a famous figure. At first, HA was head of the KGB in Azerbaijan, then, in the seventies, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the republic. He was a disciple of Brezhnev, who appointed him Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR. He was fired from that post by Gorbachev in 1987.

HA was part of Breznehv’s circle – a group standing out for deep corruption, preference for any kind of luxury and overall debauchery. They displayed that corruption with provoking openness, not ashamed in the least.

Of course one doesn’t find this quote in the shrine of homage to HA, but the last paragraph could be the motto for the museum, actually the whole park or indeed for the whole country. For someone who was already famous for open corruption under communism, an independent Azerbaijan with gushing oil wells must have been the mother of all dreams. Thus, it comes as no surprise to meet the whole Aliyev family in the Panama Papers.

The second point that I found interesting about the exhibited photos was the extent of self-staging already during Soviet times, when HA did not actually depend on the benevolence of those governed by him. But he looks as ardent a campaigner as Bill Clinton in his best days: HA in a field with farmers, HA with soldiers, HA with children, HA as an archaeologist, HA with a water melon, HA at a busy market. As if he already sensed in the 1960s that he would need photos for election campaigns after 1990.

Behind the museum, the park continues, as far and as straight-lined as over the miles already covered.

A mosaic shows a king whose subjects submissively take notes of the ruler’s remarks. We know this from North Korea, too.

A cleaning lady uses her broom to wipe off a perfectly shaped bush. I’ve had some petit-bourgeois neighbors over the years, but I ain’t never seen nobody clean bushes in the garden with a broom.

After a few hours, I finally spot the first other visitors: a young couple who are having their immediate surroundings cleaned by a cleaning lady with little regard for privacy. Well, at least I know now that the cleansing wasn’t directed against me personally.

For the non-present children, the part with rides and attractions (bigger than Disneyland) is getting cleaned and swept. They won’t appreciate it (unless their parents got a job this way).

Even Mr Shrek has to help.

The café has the size of a university dining hall, but as soon as I enter, two guys run towards me, take me between them and express in no uncertain manner that I should sit outside in the glaring sun. Maybe the interior hasn’t been cleaned in the last hour.

The only thing that adds a friendly touch are the birdhouses (despite a sticker indicating to the birds that their home was sponsored by Kapital Bank).

Nice that someone thought of the animals. It’s bad enough that the humans in the nearby housing estate or the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh are not getting their share of the oil money.

At the entrance/exit, there is a surprisingly modest column (only of menhir size) pointing to the inauguration of the park in January 2012 – in the presence of President Ilham Aliyev. Yes, that’s the son of the overly worshiped HA. That too reminds one of North Korea. The son of the present president is conveniently named Heydar Aliyev again. The young boy will doubtlessly enjoy a dynamic and dynastic career.

On the way home, I remember where I have seen an Azerbaijanian park before: in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. There are also Heydar Aliyev Parks in Tbilisi, in Istanbul, in Ankara, in Bucharest, in Kiev and maybe soon in your hometown. You simply have to talk to your city council about it. Azerbaijan will pay for everything.

When I return to the house, the landlady asks me what I thought of the park. I am thinking how to express my thoughts about megalomania and personality cult diplomatically, when I – just in time – spot a photo of HA and the presidential successor son on top of the cabinet in the living room.

It is larger and more prominently placed than the photos of nephews, children and parents.

A strange country. But at least I don’t have to visit North Korea anymore.

Thank you!
Hopefully soon, definitely in the coming weeks. If I forget about it, please remind me! ;-)
And I’d really love to come back to Armenia for longer, to go hiking in the whole country. I had the feeling like traveling through Armenia on a bus is a waste of Armenia. Although I did go hiking for two days around Dilijan.

Thank you!
Yes, I noticed the lunch/dinner with Yassir Arafat. I don’t know if Azerbaijan still has these kind of contacts, but I don’t think so. It struck me more as a country exclusively interested in selling oil, running it as a family fiefdom and building ever bigger structures named after HA.

Fascinating article, as always. Lumping Trump in with Hussein was a low blow though. Ardent non-voter here, so not a Trump supporter by any stretch, but it’s pretty intellectually lame to put his name in that company. He was elected democratically, and has stayed within the bound of the law so far. Also just recently stopped a covert CIA operation to arm rebels (terrorists) in Syria. A program continued under Obama, who I never recall you demonizng in a similar fashion, even tho many of his initiatives, were down through Exectuive Order (democracies dictatorship). It’s a disservice to people under these brutal regimes to make a joke out of their suffering, and such a poor comparison. Just my two cents. Love the blog!

Thank you!
The lumping together of Gaddafi, Hussein and Trump was purely done on grounds of interior design. They share a love for gold, marble, kitsch and columns.
And after Mr Trump himself praised Mr Hussein and Mr Gaddafi, I thought that it was not completely unfair to connect them.

….haha!! Wonderful!! It’s called “Despot Chic”….and yes! there’s a gloriously obscene “beat my gold bits” collective taste… Im glad you are still low profile enough to get through the nets of blokes like that, without ending in subterranean solitary confinement, but do be careful. Have you done the Saudi mob, Trump’s bestest pals, yet?

I would also take issue with “Trump has stayed within the bounds of the law so far”.
He has defrauded customers, clients, contractors and business partners.
He defrauded people who gave to his charity and then, quite in line with the subject of the article, used the money to have oversized paintings of himself made.
He violated tax laws and possibly campaign finance laws.
He violated the trade embargo against Cuba.
He has advocated torture, extrajudicial killing and police violence.
He has admitted to sexual assault.
He has been using the presidency to enrich himself and his family.
And if we wait a week, there will be more.

Yes, it’s mostly the megalomania and the dynastic thinking that conjured up the connection.

As to Mr Trump’s taxes, I have read reports about him under-reporting his income, a criminal investigation for tax fraud in Mexico and that dubious deduction of a $916 million loss. Using donations for non-charity purposes should also be relevant under tax law, I think.

That’s a lot of accusations. In the US we’re claim to be innocent until proven guilty, so I would need not a lot more evidence for some of those claims. I’ll address a couple though for sport. “Admitted to sexual assault”? Please tell me you’re not referencing “grab her by the kitty cat”? That’s obviously not an admission of any sort of sexual assault, but rather a low-brow comment about licentious women. Also it’s was an edited clip of two assholes bullshitting. That sort of thinking is what raised my original critique. A dumb comment does not rise to the level sexual assault, if it does there’s a number of rappers and comedians we need to lock up as well. You’ll also recall the very sketchy “pee-gate” dossier which was proven fictional , along with a number of accusers brought forth by the spook Gloria Aldred.
They all seemed to vanish after November 2. There’s also so poignant irony in mentioning charity fraud, considering the outrage and robbery which was conducted by the Clinton charity in Haiti. A much more egregious crime then some painting. This logic applies to a number of these accusations, our alternative candidate Clinton, has been accused of all these things and some, and frankly from my research there’s a lot more evidence for her culpability in these regards.

Sure, but the spirit of the law definitely applies here. If someone hasn’t been convicted then it is ultimately speculative, as in the case of my accusations against Clinton as well. So we can build our arguments, opinions, however we want, but to be fair we must acknowledge their unstable foundations.

I am not sure about that.
It seems like the program was not very effective, which I guess is always the case when you send tons of money without competent (i.e. local or at least Arabic- and Kurdish-speaking) people on the ground.
If at all, my criticism was more how half-heartedly the opposition against Bashar Assad has been supported.

Dang, that surprises me. So you support the US billion dollars weapon deal to Saudi Arabia as well? I don’t, for the record. Or perhaps believe that the US role in the Iran-Contra scandal, and overthrow of the Iranian government was a good move too? What about the overthrow of Saddam In Iraq? Even bigger question, should the EU arm “rebels” in the US (not that we need it) to overthrow Trump? Seeing as his such a criminal as well.

Regarding Iran, it depends which overthrow you mean (1953 or 1979), but I would say that both of them had mainly an internal Iranian dynamic. In 1953 there was some help from the UK and the USA, but it was the Iranian Shah who wanted to get rid of the Iranian Prime Minister.

I was happy when Saddam Hussein was overthrown, but I quickly had to discover that the whole thing hadn’t been planned very well (again, lack of local experts and people who knew the region).
I am generally a bit more pro regime change than most people because I grew up in a democratic, free and prosperous Germany thanks to the sacrifice of Canadian, US-American, British, Australian and many other (not to forget Soviet) soldiers. But it seems that this had been far better prepared and planned for than Iraq.

Regarding the USA, I would think that there are more than enough weapons floating around already. ;-) But I hope that they at least will be kept out of any political discourse.

Final point, and I’ll stop harassing your blog. You keep blaming a lack of planning and intelligence, but to me that’s sort of an cop-out idealism, that says if people were smart enough then they could handle the coup, but that misses the whole point, that coups and rebellions are by nature messy, ignorant, endeavors. I can’t think of a single example in history where outside arming and influence has ever turned out in a utopian fashion that you suggest. Even your example of Germany suggests this, it was international intervention after WW1 that laid the stage for Hitler/WW2. After WW2 it was international play which led to East/West split, Cold War, Arms race, etc. It’s a result of dialectical materialism, an outside influence will always prompt a nationalistic response down the road. It’s all good and fine in a consequent less discussion on a blog, but say in Iraq war where conservatively 1/2 a million innocent women and children were killed, intervention looks pretty morally reprehensible.

You are right, no such thing ever goes according to plan. As soldiers say: “No plan survives the first contact with the enemy.”
But after and indeed already during WW2, the Allied powers, in particular the USA, used German experts, many of them refugees from Germany, to understand how Germany worked and to prepare for a new government, for re-education, for economic management and so on. In Iraq, it seemed like none of that was done. I think many in the US government were even surprised that there were Sunni and Shia and Kurds.
I would not blame the Nazis on the international intervention after WW1 and see them more as a continuation of the Reich under Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Germans didn’t need outside intervention to become racist, militaristic, anti-Semitic and authoritarian. Some historians don’t see the Third Reich as a break with historic German tradition, but see the democracy of the Weimar Republic as the short break. But even that had not been put upon Germany by the victors of WW1, but was the result of an internal German revolution, something that happened in many countries around the world at that time (with the Russian Revolution being the most known example, but by no means the only one).
When there finally was international intervention after WW2, it worked quite well (obviously better in West than in East Germany). In post-WW2 Europe, I don’t see the “nationalistic response” that you mention. Quite the contrary, it set the stage for European unification.

And he is now, and always has been.. best pals with some of the world’s biggest rotters..
From The Mob..who supplied his concrete and illegal workforce for Trump Tower, to the Human Right abusers, in the UAE.

Amcmulin914. Your comment ref. “licentious women”… puts you, pronto, on the same dirt track as the trump. There was never any suggestion that the women whom he abused, or attempted to abuse were “licentious”. Your perception..that ‘beautiful women’ are licentious, might serve you well, if you hope to emulate him… Trump.direct quote… .”I did try and fuck her, she was married,” and says that when he meets beautiful women he feels able to “grab them by the pussy”.

Well, at least it was also comic. ;-)
I have to say, I had a much better experience in Göygöl, where people were very friendly and welcoming.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to continue to Baku because I had to be in Abkhazia at a certain day because of the visa.
I would really love to return to Azerbaijan, particularly to go on a long hike across the whole country. The mountains looked so beautiful and tempting! But I noticed that I would need to learn a bit of Azeri or Russian – or find an Azeri girlfriend. ;-)

There are plenty of young people that would be happy to be a guide and help you with the daily communication. Generally, people are friendly to foreigners, especially in rural areas. If you’ll decide to make a nature tour, with birdwatching and national parks, contact me and I can set you up with the best expert in the country ;)

There are loads of normal friendly people who will show you around in Baku. Young generation does speak English. It’s very sad to read these things about my homeland. Yet I agree with every point you mentioned.

I should add that this article was just based on a few days in Ganja, so it’s a very small glimpse and not representative at all. And of course it’s my fault for not speaking the local language and the lack of communication that I had because of that. – I should really return for more time!

It’s not often that I have the chance to read a travel blog post about Azerbaijan, let alone Ganja. Thank you so much for this wonderful article, it was a trip down memory lane for me as I had lived in Ganja from 2013-2014. I like your writing style and I felt quite entertained. I hope you had more interesting, probably challenging or maybe confusing moments in Azerbaijan. I for sure did. ;-)

Thank you!
I recognized Heydar Aliyev Park in your article: https://elaenvoyage.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/so-how-was-it/ – and I saw that it wasn’t busier when you visited, either.
I was only in Azerbaijan for three days, so my experience was mostly still in the “weird” phase. I was happy to read in your article that being stared at is apparently normal, because I already worried it was something about me. Although I have been to countries where I stand out even more as a foreigner, I had never had that experience as regularly, almost constantly, as in Azerbaijan.
I only had time to get a glimpse of Ganja and Göygöl, but I’d love to return to the Caucasus for longer. As I was on the bus from the border to Ganja, I marveled at the landscape and the mountains in the distance and just wanted to go for months of hiking there.

The park was almost always empty the couple of times I went there. Except on June 15th. It is very crowded then. It is the day Azerbaijan celebrates the so called “Salvation Day”, the day Heydar Aliyev came back from his exile and “saved” the country. People walked around the park, and there was a big event at the fake ancient theatre where people waved Azerbaijan flags and sang songs about HA and the beautiful country Azerbaijan. That was weird too.
If you have the chance to go back to the Caucasus for hiking, you should definitely try. It is beautiful in the mountains. And I don’t know if it’s still in use, but we used Community Based Tourism (CBT) in Azerbaijan that lets you stay with local families for little money. It made our mountain trip very special and is still one of my favourite memories from Azerbaijan. And the friendliness of the host family definitely helps to overcome the staring. ;-)

I assume overall your impressions weren’t positive, indeed, reading your repetitive comments on how weird the entire experience was. Although each experience is subjective and determined by the person’s social education, perceptions, and previous experiences if you will. But, I still wonder, what is it exactly that makes you say “Azerbaijan is a bit weird indeed”. My interest is purely academic, in a sense, that I don’t condemn or try to defend anything – simply, want to understand the outsiders’ perspectives.

Of course it’s completely subjective and, as I also repeat, I have only been to Azerbaijan for three days and was only in two towns. But I’ve been in 57 countries all over the world and in different cultures, so I have a lot of different experiences and dare to have a (tentative) opinion quite quickly.
A few examples:
– I have never felt that much observed, even followed and stared at as in Azerbaijan. But when I nodded politely, smiled at or greeted people, many turned or walked away, like spies caught.
– It was the first time that a police officer stopped me, wanted to see the photos in my camera and asked me to delete the photos. (It was in the center of Ganja and I had photographed the sunset.)
– It was also not nice that every taxi driver lied to me about there not being any buses, even when I saw the bus with the name of the destination standing there. That happens in more countries, but it felt quite aggressive, with different drivers pulling at my backpack.
– The whole Heydar Aliev cult.
– And why is everything so big for so few people? The bus terminal in Ganja is bigger than the one in Berlin or in New York, but everything is empty. And I am sure it’s also called Heydar-Aliev-Terminal. :-)
But I have to say that my experience was entirely positive in Göygöl. There, people were very friendly, welcoming and helpful. An older man whom I met on the bus, but with whom I couldn’t communicate much (my fault, of course), took me home with him because his little daughter spoke some English. All the people in Göygöl seemed more open and relaxed than in Ganja, although it’s just a short bus ride away. In Göygöl for example, the police officers didn’t even mind when I took a photo of their police station (because it’s in an old German house).
Summary: I haven’t seen enough by far, and my experience was limited because I speak neither Azeri nor Russian. I think I would do much better after learning either of these languages a bit and maybe use Couchsurfing to stay with Azeris to make local contacts more quickly. (My usual strategy is to sit in the park, read a book or newspaper and wait until people sit down next to me and ask questions. That has worked almost everywhere, but it didn’t in Ganja. But then, it probably wouldn’t work in Germany either, or if, only immigrants would be communicative enough.

Thanks, Andreas, for your feedback. I think it’s important to understand how outsiders perceive the local culture (just as I keep analyzing my own place and perceptions of German culture). I always wonder how does local cultures affect people, so, appreciate your response. Let me know if you ever decide to go back :)

That could be, and Baku might be much more used to foreigners and thus more relaxed.
But then I went to Göygöl, just a short bus trip away from Ganja, and there the mood was completely different. Everybody was welcoming and friendly and helpful. People came up to me to greet me. When I made a photo of the police station, the police officer came outside and smiled for the photo.

Azeris, since everything in Azerbaijan belongs to the Aliyev Dynasty, why don’t you all get together and change the name of your nation to Aliyevstan to bestow the highest honor to the owners of the nation? It would be more accurate, as “Azerbaijan” is neither historical nor does it mean anything except being named after an Iranian province, does it?

Hi Andreas, I just found this article from Harut Sassounian’s report, and I found it a very interesting read. I just wanted to give you a friendly reminder that you should probably refrain from re-visiting Azerbaijan for your own sake and safety, at least until a change in government takes place. The Azeri government is so paranoid, they will go to great lengths to try to make anyone’s life miserable or have them arrested if they display even a hint of (in their view) “Anti-Azerbaijani sentiment”. Recently they got a blogger deported to their country (through bribes) and jailed simply because he acknowledged a truth in his writings: that Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is Armenian land. And anyone visiting there gets on their “black list”. Yes, that’s how crazy and obsessed they are.

In fact so much so that they are obsessed with the idea that “Armenians and foreigners plotting against them”. Recently an Armenian reporter went there under cover and freely explored the whole area, which made their government irate. From our perspective as Armenians, it is because they all have the correct suspicion that the lands they occupy are in fact historic Armenian land. Everywhere they turn and everything they dig up reminds them of this fact, and as you can imagine, their obsessive brainwashing of the population has reached epic proportions.

Just a fun factoid since you visited “Genje”. This old Armenian city’s real name is “Gandzak” or “Kantzag” (depending on the dialect), which means something like “Treasure Chest”. The Azeri/Turk name is just a corruption of the real name, like most everything else they have copied, stolen or plagiarized from Armenians, and that also includes most prominently the other “Azeri” territory they call “Nakhchivan”, real name Nakhichevan, which means “First Descent” in Armenian – a reference to Noah’s landing. If you thought people were paranoid in “Genje”, you should have visited “Nakhchivan” to see what real paranoia looks like. About a decade ago, they destroyed 1000 to 1500 year old artistic Armenian Cross Stones in Armenian cemeteries and now claim “no Armenians ever existed there in history”. And anyone visiting there with any hint of looking for anything Armenian, they will all circle around them like vultures.

At any rate just be careful, and thanks for your report, and it would be pretty interesting if you one day visit Armenia and see and write about it as well, as a contrast to the immediate neighbor. Take care!

Thank you very much, also for the warning! I have indeed been wondering if I should risk another visit to Azerbaijan…
I haven’t been to Nakhichevan, but the few people from there who e-mailed me were indeed a bit radical.

I have been to Armenia too, but only in Yerevan and in Dilijan. It’s only a matter of time that I haven’t written the articles yet. I found Yerevan very culturally rich, but I have to admit that I felt even happier in Dilijan. Maybe it was the fresh mountain air or all the green, but I also remember it as the friendliest city in the Caucasus.

I would really like to return to Armenia for longer. On the bus from Yerevan to Dilijan, I kept marveling at the mountains in the distance and just wanted to get off and go hiking for weeks. (But it was July and it was too hot.)

By the way, it’s a nice coincidence to read your comment today, because I was just reading in Varujan Vosganian’s “Book of Whispers” for breakfast, a wonderful book about the Armenians in Romania.